"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

And I’m now “Guest Contributor” of the week over at Ricochet — one of those guest-blogging gigs that doesn’t actually involved getting paid, but . . . Well, at least I tried. Their editor, James Poulos, is a friend of mine and when Scott Immergut invited me to contribute, I replied by e-mail:

While I’ll probably accept the invitation anyway, a bit of haggling at least helps me maintain the illusion that I’m doing something worthwhile.

The haggling didn’t result in any ironclad promises of large sums of cash, but it’s the principle of the thing. And I’m sure there’s some “fawning adoration” involved, so go check out my first Ricochet post: “Why Is Al Hunt on ‘This Week’?”